


Birds

by swordPrincess



Series: Labstuck [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Labstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-17
Updated: 2012-10-17
Packaged: 2017-11-16 12:09:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/539262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swordPrincess/pseuds/swordPrincess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave has issues with birds. Some people feel the need to comment about this.<br/>-<br/>labstuck.tumblr.com</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 2010

**Author's Note:**

> Short things. Originally meant to be a drabble but came out a bit too long for that.
> 
> Chapter titles are the years they take place in.
> 
> See Labstuck tumblr for up-to-date fics, info, and if you ever want to ask the characters questions or anything.

Rose came out to the quad to find Dave yelling emphatically at a group of birds. She raised an eyebrow, but he didn't appear to notice her presence.

"Why don't you leave? Shoo! You're so stupid! Go, get out of here!"

"They stay because you feed them," Rose pointed out evenly. Dave whipped his head around to face her at the words, with an expression that for a moment looked like he might yell at her too, but then it gradually shut down and his mouth closed tightly to form a thin line. He said nothing.

"So I hear you tried to escape again." It was hard to read Rose's tone. It held no traces of scorn nor of sympathy. She was simply stating facts in that melodious voice of hers.

"Are you here to tease me for trying or for failing?" Dave asked. He had barely moved from the spot since he turned toward her. Not even his face changed. "Or do you just want to do some of your bullshit psychoanalysis on my repeated attempts?"

"Neither to the first question, and I haven't the time at the moment for the second. I've come ill prepared for such a sunny day." Rose shaded her eyes with her hand as she spoke. Dave's muscles finally relaxed and he moved, but only slightly.

"Yeah, I see you've come without your sunglasses or your weird frilly purple umbrella," he noted.

"It's called a parasol. I've told you this many times."

"Yeah, but I keep forgetting on account of not caring."

Dave gave a hard kick to the dirt at his feet. The birds scattered for a bit, but most of them flew right back.

"They like you," Rose said with a slight smile.

"They're stupid," Dave responded. "They can leave, but they don't."

They were both silent for a few moments. Then Rose took a deep breath in.

_"Hold fast to dreams_  
 _For if dreams die_  
 _Life is a broken-winged bird_  
 _That cannot fly"_

Dave turned back to stare at her, as if to say something. So many things. Perhaps words diminishing the poem as irrelevant. Surely a tangential run-on argument with a high sense of ego about dreams never dying and things being unbreakable. Words to hide feelings of being already broken and a low self-worth that he would never admit to.

None of the words came out. He turned back away and down. More silence stretched out between them.

"Thanks," Dave said finally, and softly, barely being able to be heard over the noisy birds.

Rose smiled slightly then turned to go. Dave looked back at her.

She waved her hand at him as she walked away and said nothing more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose's quote was the first half of the poem "Dreams" by Langston Hughes.


	2. 2012

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place after some other fic I haven't finished writing yet, but any "spoilers" of sorts are really minor to completely obvious, in my opinion.
> 
> Sometimes I think you don't really even need to read any of this in "order".

"Yo." Dirk called the greeting to the figure of Dave, who was sitting on a bench feeding an assortment of birds.

"Sup," said Dave. He didn't look up at all.

Dirk stopped his steps a couple of feet away and looked down at the activity of his genetic relation. "You like birds?" he asked.

"Hell no," Dave answered him. "I hate these assholes."

Dirk made a low sound somewhere between a laugh and a snort but said nothing to question or debunk the statement.

_"Cages or wings?_   
_Which do you prefer?_   
_Ask the birds"_

The lines were sung, but cut off on a note that seemed open for more rather than like a conclusion. Dirk did not continue, however.

Dave finally looked at him. "What." A statement, not a question.

Dirk simply shrugged. He didn't feel that the rest was particularly relevant.

Dave looked back away. He threw more food toward the birds. It was clear if Dirk didn't say what he meant to say, Dave would continue to ignore him.

"This place isn't the same to them as it is to you," Dirk spoke up again. "They are free to leave at any time and you feed them. They have ample reason to return time and time again. If you at any point attempted to trap them here, then they would mostly likely attempt to fly away."

"What's your point?"

"Just some things that maybe some adults here need to realize."

"And what is that?" Dave stood up to face Dirk fully for the first time since their conversation began. Like a challenge.

Dirk came closer, stepping up to Dave's rise. Close enough to be just inside of Dave's personal space. "We're not so different. Us and the birds."

Dirk immediately took one step back and watched Dave's facial expression for a moment. Then he turned away before another word could be said.

He lifted his hand next to his head in a sort of backhanded wave. "See you, bro."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the spoilers were basically just that the plan is successful and that they get to mingle afterwards. Pretty lame spoilers, amirite?
> 
> Dirk's bit was a few lines from the song "Louder Than Words" from the musical _tick, tick...BOOM!_


End file.
